Georges Pompidou would rather be a simple civil servant in a communist government than prime minister in a France dominated by Americans? Not a France generally foreign-dominated, mind you, but — specifically — dominated by the Yanks. This reveals not only some things about the supposedly eternal Franco-American friendship, it also gives an idea of how, in contrast to their attitude towards the Americans, the communists and their dictatorships are seen with benign eyes in France. (But no, this can in no way be construed as either surrender or appeasement; perish the thought!)

One is tempted to ask how the Hungarians, the Estonians, the Czechs, and the Poles would feel about a VIP's comment regarding the benefits of having communist governments versus the horrendous bad luck of being dominated by those horrible Americans. It is true that resisting is easier to do in a democracy and with a democratic superpower at one's side than in a communist-dominated government or in a pact dominated by the Kremlin…